BxB Hulk
|birth_place = Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan |Death date= |Death place = |Resides = |Family = |otherFamily = |names ='BxB Hulk' Killer Hulk Black Hulk Terumasa Ishihara |height = |weight = |billed = |trainer = Dragon Gate Dojo Hayabusa Magnum Tokyo |debut = March 5, 2005 |retired = }} better known by his ring name , is a professional wrestler, currently working for Dragon Gate, where he is a current seven-times Open the Twin Gate Champion with several partners, one-time Open the Dream Gate Champion and eight-time Open the Triangle Gate Champion. Hulk was the second graduate of the Dragon Gate Dojo. Hulk was trained by Hayabusa and Magnum Tokyo, with Tokyo's influence evident in many aspects of his character, most notably his trademark pre-match dance routine, and he also adopted some moves from Hayabusa most notably the H Thunder and Phoenix Splash. Shortly after, Hulk had one major success, winning the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. In 2008, Hulk would form WORLD-1 and receive a significant push main eventing 2008 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival for the Open The Dream Gate Championship and in May 2011, he won the King of Gate. He would turn heel for the first time shortly after and in 2014, after turning face he would receive the biggest push in his career winning the Open The Dream Gate Championship, holding it for almost a year. Hulk was known for the rivalry he had with Shingo Takagi, both were trained by Dragon Gate franchise wrestlers, Magnum Tokyo and CIMA respectively. Both were part of the same unit New Hazard and won together the Open The Triangle Gate Championship twice and Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, before Takagi turned on Hulk. Their rivalry main event 2006 Glorious Gate tour, 2008 Gate Of Maximum tour, 2008 and 2010 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival and transected rest of 2011 and begging of 2012, also main event 2014 Final Gate. The two would team for the first time in ten years and a face each other a final time on October 7, 2018, on Takagi last match in Dragon Gate, which was won by Hulk. Professional wrestling career He was the second student from the Dragon Gate Dojo. He was brought into Dragon Gate by Magnum Tokyo, with Tokyo's influence evident in many aspects of his character, most notably his trademark pre-match dance routine. Magnum Tokyo had him placed in the Pos.Hearts unit he created ("Pos." representing the limitless possibilities Hulk showed), with Anthony W. Mori and Super Shisa as the other members. The unit largely served as a launching pad to get his career off the ground. Pos.Hearts would have only one major success, winning the Open The Triangle Gate titles in December 2006 from Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Gamma, but they lost the titles in their first defense the following month back to them, and when they lost to them again the month after that, they were forced to dissolve the unit. He would join up with CIMA's Typhoon stable, but a few months later, in the midst of Typhoon's feud with the faction Muscle Outlaw'z, he and MO'z member Cyber Kong both betrayed their stables to join together and form New Hazard, along with Shingo Takagi and YAMATO. While in the group, he would hold the Triangle Gate titles twice, and most notably, he and Takagi would win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in January 2008. In April, YAMATO betrayed New Hazard and defected to Muscle Outlaw'z. A month later, Takagi and Kong turned on BxB Hulk before they were to defend the Triangle Gate titles against YAMATO, Genki Horiguchi and Gamma, citing him as a weakling, effectively vacating the titles and ending New Hazard. Then, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino — who had recently split from MO'z — came to his aid, and although the trio failed to win the vacant titles from Takagi, YAMATO & Gamma of the newly formed Real Hazard, they formed a new unit with Naoki Tanizaki and m.c.KZ called WORLD-1. On June 12, BxB Hulk unveiled a persona that he had hinted at doing several months ago called "Killer Hulk" (later renamed Black Hulk), wearing black pants and black make-up and using a violent fighting style. Under this persona, he dismantled Real Hazard's Yasushi Kanda, blowing off what was left of their feud that they had going on for the last few months. He then got into a feud with Takagi. They fought in a match on June 29 to determine the #1 contender for CIMA's Open The Dream Gate Championship, but the match ended in a one-hour draw. They were soon scheduled to do battle again on July 27, but this time it would be for the Open The Dream Gate Title itself, due to CIMA vacating it because of a neck injury. Hulk lost that match, but his performance impressed Takagi enough that he retracted his statement about Hulk being weak and shook hands with him. He then got into a feud with Gamma, and he as Black Hulk fought Gamma as Gamma Daiou on November 16, which he won by count-out after putting Gamma through a table outside the ring with his E.V.O. finisher. In March 2009, YAMATO began provoking him, and even offered him membership into Real Hazard under his Black Hulk persona. He responded by randomly attacking members of Real Hazard under his Black Hulk persona until YAMATO and the rest of the group got the better of him on April 15. YAMATO then challenged him to a match, and he did not care whether he fought Hulk as Black Hulk or his normal self. Hulk fought YAMATO as Black Hulk and won by referee stoppage. On June 7, he won the Triangle Gate titles with Masato Yoshino and PAC, and they held them for three months before losing them to Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Akebono. He challenged his stablemate Naruki Doi for the Open The Dream Gate Title on November 23, but was unsuccessful in capturing the title. However, five days later, he became the inaugural Open The Freedom Gate Champion of Dragon Gate USA by winning a 14-man tournament at DGUSA Freedom Fight. On July 11, 2010, BxB Hulk lost a Hair vs. Hair match against Shingo Takagi and was as a result shaved bald. On October 29, 2010 H,ulk successfully retained his Open The Freedom Gate Championship by defeating Shingo in the main event of Dragon Gate USA's inaugural iPPV "Bushido: Code of the Warrior". On January 28, 2011, at the United: NYC pay-per-view, Hulk lost the Open The Freedom Gate Championship to YAMATO. On April 14, 2011, Hulk, PAC a,nd Susumu Yokosuka failed to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship from Blood Warriors (CIMA, Dragon Kid and Ricochet) and as a result, WORLD-1 was forced to disband. On April 24, former WORLD-1 members Hulk, PAC, Yokosuka and Yoshino agreed to form a new alliance with Masaaki Mochizuki to battle Blood Warriors. On May 21, Hulk first defeated CIMA in the semifinals and then CIMA's Blood Warriors stablemate Yasushi Kanda in the finals to win the 2011 King of Gate tournament. However, much to Hulk's surprise, Masaaki Mochizuki named Kanda the next challenger to his Open The Dream Gate Championship. On June 8, before Hulk was scheduled to team with Shingo Tagaki, Naoki Tanizaki came out dressed as Black Hulk. With Takagi distracted with Tanizaki, Hulk hit Takagi with a chair, turning heel and joining Blood Warriors. Hulk finally received his shot at the Open The Dream Gate Championship on July 17, but was defeated by Masaaki Mochizuki. On August 7, Hulk and Akira Tozawa defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and YAMATO in the finals to win the 2011 Summer Adventure Tag League. On December 1, Hulk and Tozawa defeated KAGETORA and Susumu Yokosuka to win the vacant Open The Twin Gate Championship. On January 19, 2012, Hulk and Tozawa turned on CIMA, causing him to lose a ten-man "Loser Leaves Unit" tag team match; as a result, CIMA was kicked out of Blood Warriors. On March 1, the new leader of Blood Warriors, Akira Tozawa, changed the stable's name to Mad Blankey. On March 4, Hulk and Tozawa lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Jimmy Kagetora and Jimmy Susumu. Hulk regained the title from the Jimmyz on June 10, teaming with "Naoki Tanisaki". However, they lost the belts back to Jimmy Kagetora and Jimmy Susumu on June 17 in a 3-way elimination tag team match which also included MadoGiwa Windows members K-ness & Kenichiro Arai. On August 19, Hulk, Tozawa and Naoki Tanisaki defeated CIMA, Gamma and Magnitude Kishiwada to win the 2012 Summer Adventure Tag League and the vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship. They lost the title to Kaettekita Veteran-gun (Gamma, HUB and Magnitude Kishiwada) on October 21. On June 15, 2013, Hulk and Tozawa regained the Open The Twin Gate Championship from Shingo Takagi and Yamato, when Yamato turned on Takagi and joined Mad Blankey. Hulk and Tozawa went on to lose the title to Naruki Doi and Ricochet on July 21. On May 5, 2014, after being the last to escape and win the Cage match at Dead or Alive 2014, Hulk quit Mad Blankey, thus turning face. After losing the rights to the Mad Blankey name and logo, he soon began a gradual return to his dancer gimmick, teaming up with Masaaki Mochizuki (who was competing as BxB Masa) on July 3 to unsuccessfully challenge the Mad Blankey team of YAMATO and Naruki Doi after Hulk was attacked by Dr. Muscle. On July 20, Hulk defeated YAMATO to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship for the first time. After a reign of only 16 days, Hulk lost the title to Naruki Doi in a four-on-one handicap match on August 5, which also included Doi's Mad Blankey partners Cyber Kong, Kzy and Mondai Ryu. On August 17, Hulk defeated Doi, now recognized as a "provisional" champion, in a one-on-one match to resume his first title reign and make his first successful title defense. On September 9 BxB Hulk formed his new stable called Dia Hearts alongside Maasaki Mochizuki and Dragon Kid.http://www.cagematch.net/?id=29&nr=1556 On October 5, Hulk made his 2nd successful title defense against Cyber Kong of Mad Blankey. On November 2, Hulk made his 3rd successful title defense against Monster express member and former tag team partner Akira Tozawa.http://www.iheartdg.com/openthedreamgate.html On December 28, BxB Hulk successfully defended his belt for the 4th time against Shingo Takagi. Hulk separated his shoulder during the match but was not forced to vacate and made his surprise return January 11, 2015, defeating Punch Tominaga. On June 14, Hulk lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Masato Yoshino in his eighth title defense. On February 4, 2016, Dia.HEARTS was forced to disband after losing a match to Monster Express and VerserK. On May 28, Hulk, along with YAMATO, Kzy, and Yosuke♥Santa Maria, formed a new unit named Tribe Vanguard. In 2017 Hulk then started a stoyline, where he started a losing streak, causing him to enter a slump. On January 18 Hulk, YAMATO and Kzy participated at the New Years Unit War 6 Man Tag Team Tournament. Hulk, YAMATO a nd Kzy were eliminated ainthe second round by Masato Yoshino, Ben-K and Kotoka with Hulk being pinned by Kotoka. After the match YAMATO offered Hulk a title shot for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, Hulk then started to have more wins. On February 2 Hulk unsuccessfully challenged YAMATO for the Open the Dream Gate Champion after the match Hulk said if he could stay in Tribe Vanguard and YAMATO accepted. Later YAMATO announced that he would defend his title in the Dead Or Alive Steel Cage Match against Takagi, Kong, Hulk and Doi in which would lead tensions starting to rise between Hulk and YAMATO including Hulk stealing YAMATO's Frankensteiner of The Almighty move. On May 5, Hulk unsuccessfully challenged YAMATO for the Open The Dream Gate Championship at the Dead Or Alive Steel Cage match, being the second man to be eliminated. On November 3 Hulk, YAMATO and Kzy defeated Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida, and El Lindaman to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. The match also included Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Kotoka. On December 23 at Final Gate, Hulk, YAMATO, and Kzy lost the titles to Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Jason Lee. In May 2018, took part in the King of Gate, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and four losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On July 22 at Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival, Hulk and YAMATO defeated Big Ben (Big R Shimizu and Ben-K) to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. On September 24 at Dangerous Gate, Hulk came to the ring and offered his longtime rival Shingo Takagi to be his opponent on his last match in Dragon Gate. He agreed to Hulk's offer, but he asked him to team with him after ten years in the next Korakuen Hall show on October 2, which Hulk agreed. In the backstage, Takagi was criticized by his former ANTIAS stablemates for teaming with Hulk and it was decided that Takagi and Hulk would face Eita and a mystery partner. At the event, Hulk and Takagi teamed for the first time in ten years, losing to Eita and the returning PAC, who was revealed to be Eita's partner. On October 7, Hulk defeated Takagi in his last match in Dragon Gate. On December 19, Hulk along with YAMATO were forced to vacant the Open the Twin Gate Championship, due Hulk suffering a neck injury. On May 6, Hulk would return as his Darkside Hulk persona helping YAMATO to escape the Dead or Alive cage match. Afterwards, he began making sporadic appearances, most notably on July 4 at Anthony W.Mori's return match under his Darkside Hulk persona. On July 13, it was announced that Hulk was cleared to make his in-ring return at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on July 21. At the event on July 21, Hulk made his official return in a three-way match with Kagetora and Yosuke♥Santa Maria against Natural Vibes (Genki Horiguchi, "brother" YASSHI and Punch Tominaga) and Mochizuki Dojo (Hyou Watanabe, Yuki Yoshioka, and Kota Minoura), in which the match was won by Mochizuki Dojo. In October, Eita announced that R.E.D would be joined by two new members, with their identity being kept in secret under the disguise of Dr. Muscle, known as the Green and Red Masked Demons, respectively. On December 15 at Final Gate, Hulk and YAMATO defeated Eita and Big R Shimizu to regain the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Three days later, Hulk turned on YAMATO to join R.E.D, revealing himself to be the Red Masked Demon. He would blame YAMATO for inviting KAI to the stable, while he was injured when KAI also had a neck injury. This led to Hulk stealing the Open The Twin Gate Championship belts. Afterwards, R.E.D began a "Generation War" against Dragon Gate and Toryumon. On December 22, YAMATO forfeited his half of the Open The Twin Gate Championship, leading to Hulk protest against the decision. Afterwards, General Manager Takayuki Yagi declared the titles vacated, with the new champions being crown in a tournament in January. Later that month, Hulk, Sakamoto and Takashi Yoshida took part in the 2020 Ashiyanikki Cup 6 Man Tag Team Tournament. In the first round of the tournament, Hulk helped Eita, Ishida and Shimizu to defeat the Dragon Gate trio of YAMATO, KAI and Kzy, leading KAI to get his revenge and cost Hulk, Sakamoto and Yoshida's match against Ben-K, Strong Machine J and Dragon Dia. Factions *Pos.HEARTS (2005–2007) *Blood Generation (2006) *Typhoon (2007) *New Hazard (2007–2008) *WORLD-1 (2008–2011) *Junction Three (2011) *Blood Warriors (2011–2012) *Mad Blankey (2012–2014) *Dia.Hearts (2014–2016) *Tribe Vanguard (2016–2019) *R.E.D (2019–Present) In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''First Flash'' (Superkick to a kneeling opponent) **''H Thunder'' (Scoop side piledriver) – adopted from Hayabusa **Multiple sitout side powerslam variations ***''EVO'' (Pumphandle, sometimes from the second rope) ***''EVOP'' (Vertical suplex dropped into) ***''FTX – From Texas'' (Wrist-clutch) **''Phoenix Splash'' (Corkscrew 450° splash) – adopted from Hayabusa **Hurricanrana into a pin – 2017; parodied from YAMATO **Shooting Star Press – 2005 *'Signature moves' **BxB Boot (Running big boot to a cornered opponent, can also be done on an opponent standing on the apron) **''BxB Smash'' (Jumping straight jacket side slam spun out into a sitout side facebuster) **''BxB Star Press'' (Standing shooting star press) **Burn Out (Pumphandle inverted suplex slam) **Downward Spiral **E.V. Star Press (Standing corkscrew shooting star press) **''H Edge'' (Side slam) – adopted from Hayabusa **''Kakato Otoshi'' (Axe kick to a seated opponnent) **''Kurione'' (Running tornado DDT) **''Kurione Krush'' (Jumping cutter) **Moonsault slam **Multiple kick variations ***Dropsault ***Kakato Otosh (Jumping kick into a kneeling opponent) ***Legsweep ***''Mouse Click'' (Backflip to an oncoming opponent) ***Springboard drop ***Springboard spinning heel ***Zetsuen (Spinning back into a kneeling opponent) **Topé con Giro **Reverse STO **Standing corkscrew somersault transitioned into either a senton splash or a leg drop **South Road (Over-the-shoulder Backflip into a jackknife pin) **Suástica (Abdominal strench while at the same time trapping the opponent's leg) *'Nicknames' **'"Darkside Hero"' **"BadactorXBlues" **"PURE OR SNOW" *'Entrance themes' **"BxB Story" by Yatsuka Nakazawa **"BxB Story (Darkside Mix)" by Kodamax **"BxB Story -DEATH DANCE POISON-" by Kodamax ft. Kzy **"BxB Story #011" by MAD **"BxB Story 2017"' by Kzy ft. Be-B' Championships and accomplishments *'Dragon Gate' **Open The Dream Gate Championship (1 time) **Open The Triangle Gate Championship (8 times) – with CIMA and Jack Evans (1), Anthony W. Mori and Super Shisa (1), Shingo Takagi and Cyber Kong (2), Masato Yoshino and PAC (1), Akira Tozawa and "Naoki Tanisaki" (1), Cyber Kong and YAMATO (1) and YAMATO and Kzy (1) **Open The Twin Gate Championship (7 times, current) – with Akira Tozawa (2), "Naoki Tanisaki" (1), Uhaa Nation (1), YAMATO (2) and Kazma Sakamoto (1, current) **Six Unit Warfare One Night Tag Tournament (2012) – with Naoki Tanisaki **King of Gate (2011) **Summer Adventure Tag League (2011) – with Akira Tozawa **Summer Adventure Tag League (2012) – with Akira Tozawa and Naoki Tanisaki **Open The Triangle Gate Championship League (2006) – with CIMA and Jack Evans **Best Tag Team Award (2018) with YAMATO *'Dragon Gate USA' **Open The Freedom Gate Championship (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'59' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2015 **PWI ranked him #'198' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016 **PWI ranked him #'280' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017 *'Pro Wrestling Noah' **GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shingo Takagi *'Tokyo Sports' **Best Newcomer Award (2007) **Technique Award (2014) Luchas de Apuestas record Notes References Category:Wrestlers Category:Dragon Gate Dojo Category:Dragon Gate Roster Category:MAD BLANKEY Category:Blood Warriors Category:WORLD-1 Category:New Hazard Category:Typhoon Category:Pos.HEARTS Category:King of Gate Category:Dia. Hearts Category:Tribe Vanguard Category:R.E.D